The top kinds of hard drives are for every stage of production

Mar 18, 2024

The most serious dangers in videos is Great Fear: Losing all of the hard work you put into it. If your work isn't stored properly, an entire shoot is a complete loss. But the great news is that we're armed with many options in terms of technology as well as methods to allow us to duplicate valuable work. We spoke with Larry O'Connor, Founder and the CEO of Larry O'Connor. The company that offers storage solutions for Powerhouse, OWC  helped us gather all the necessary equipment needed to tackle any kind of scenario for video. Take a look at Larry's best practices for storage, and the top practices for ensuring the security of your video throughout the process.

A quick definition of the hard drive

HDDs (HDD) can be one of the most popular and widely-used storage device used by the computer industry and other drives for the last couple of years. HTML2Solid state drives (SSD) These are similar to the HDD but they utilize flash memory that does not have moving components inside.   NVM Express, which stands for non-volatile Memory (NVMe ) is a communication standard which was designed to maximize flash technology performance in order to provide faster SSD performance via PCIe.

Okay, let's get to the gear

Pre-pro

In addition to all the important factors that can determine the success or failure of a project including scripts, casting locations, equipment, and crew needed-- You must ensure that that your "pre-pro" job is accessible and protected. Saving early is important and you should save frequently. Choose devices that are large in capacity and less costly.

     Envoy Pro EX with USB-C

$119.00 -- $479.00 The best to utilize to: Off-site or location visiting clients for scouting

This sleek dust-proof, waterproof style fits in your pocket, making it both durable and adaptable.

Mercury Elite Pro Dock $430-$1,430 $330$1,430

Best for: Desktop and Studio models. Dual drive computer-compatible device offers flexibility, speed and speeds up to 32TB backup and storage capacity.

     Production    

Location is crucial when it comes to real estate transactions. the speed of storage is crucial in the stage of production. The footage you're working on can be huge, and you might not be sitting at the peace of your office or production location. No matter where you are it is essential to ensure that your footage doesn't take long to process.

     Fastsior 4M2 PCIe

$529.75 -- $1,999.75 Best to use for: Controlled studio environments and backups for on-sets

Whether you're using the newest Mac Pro, a legacy Mac or even a PC tower, you'll want the Accelsior SSD card. It's by far the most powerful SSD OWC provides (over the 6,000 MB/s) which is perfect for streaming and editing large-format video and graphics files without hiccups.

ThunderBay Line - $710 -- $2,800

The best choice for: Large-scale projects

If you're looking for a project that requires speed and massive capacity then look no further than OWC's ThunderBay range. Need something compact to fit in a set that is crowded or a DIT cart? Consider ThunderBay Miniature HTML0  .

Delivery starting from where it was delivered to Studio

It's likely that you'll need to present your work to your editor or colleagues prior to bringing it back home. Here are the hard drives that are durable to be sent with.

Mercury Helios 3S - $229.99

The best to use to ensure: Durability, backing the shooting day The Mercury Helios as well as the U.2 NVMe Interchange System were created to connect workflows between post and production. The system provides rapid U.2 NVMe SSDs' performance as well as the convenience of swapping drives inside an incredibly safe, portable carrier. This lightweight, robust SSD can be used swiftly take a full day's worth filming and forward it to edit, all while paying less in shipping costs due to its lightweight structure.

ThunderBlade ThunderBlade HTML0 cost is $729. $2,299

Ideal for: productions of T ravel shooting outdoors

Designed to be rugged, dependable and blazing fast This ThunderBlade can be found on the road as well as on sets and in the edit bay. It comes with a sturdy hardshell enclosure that is transportable and shippable. The device is compact but powerful providing up to 8TB of storage (with the ability to read at 2800MB/s speed as well as write at 2450MB/s speed).

     Post-production    

The majority of drives under development could be used for editing post. That's exactly where they shine. ThunderBlade, Mercury Helios, and ThunderBay mini shine because they can use them to edit.

     Jupiter mini-NAS

The best for: Collaboration in real time

The desktop with 5-Bay Jupiter mini is an excellent alternative for large-scale group projects. It's small enough to fit in bags but has a huge space (up up to 70TB). Additionally, it's equipped to work with all important video editing software.

Archiving

Mercury Pro LTO

The best to use to: Saving and forgetting it for 30 years

Once all your creativity and editing has been completed and editing has been completed it is time to take another step towards completing your project. When you archive your work, it's important to choose equipment which can be stored on shelves, and won't delete your work when it sits in a secluded spot for a few months. Mercury Pro LTO Mercury Pro LTO will go available in June 2020 to the purchase of, allowing you to archive your work today up to 3 years.

A note of caution regarding Terabytes

A majority of these drives have the equivalent of terabytes of storage. For any human, 1TB of hard drive capacity =

Article was first seen on here